Apparatus for coding messages.



R. C. MARTENS.

APPARATUS FOR CODING MESSAGES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.I9.19|6.

l 1l ,277 Patented July 4. 1916.

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RICHARD C. MARTENS, OF LONDON, ENGLAND. I

APPARATUS FOR CODING MESSAGES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July a, 1916,

Application filed April 19, 1916. Serial No. 92,185.

T0 all whom t 'may concern Be it known that I, RICHARD C. MARTENS, asubject of the Emperor of Russia, and a resident of the city of London,Kingdom of England, have invented a new and useful Improvement inApparatus for Coding Messages, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the art of transmitting intelligence by meansof code messages.

In the business of importing and eXporting houses there is constantnecessity for sending messages relating to articles illustrated in thecatalogues of manufacturers and dealers, and, in the case of a concerndoing an active business, the aggregate of tolls becomes very heavy.This expense could be largely reduced if there were some short way ofdesignating particular cuts upon the printed page. Thus, with propercoding, it may be possible to specify the particular catalogue and page,including the manufacturers name and the class of goods, all within oneword, but particularizing one cut upon a page may require two or threewords more.

By the present invention I am enabled to designate any cut by a singlesymbol, which may constitute a word by itself or be incorporated withother matter in a longer code word. upon the page of the cataloguecontaining the particular cut in question a sheet of transparentmaterial ruled with parallel vertical and horizontal lines, suitablynumbered in the margins. The top and lefthand boundaries of the ruledarea of this sheet are caused to register with the upper and left-handboundaries of the printed portion of the page; the numbers of the lineswhich intersect over the given cut, preferably substantially at itscenter, are

This is accomplished by placing then noted; a symbol for these numbersis found in the code book, and such symbol incorporated in the message.The recipient, being provided with a corresponding ruled sheet, merelyhas to apply the same to the page of his copy of the catalogue in orderto ascertain the cut referred to.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein-Figure l represent-s a catalogue, lying open, with a fragment of thetransparent ruled sheet superposed in proper registry upon one of itspages; and Fig. 2 represents a simple form of one of the ruled sheets,

In the supposed catalogue of the drawing it will be perceived that thelower left-hand cut, representing a nut, may be designated by theintersection 20-100, which by aid of a code may be expressed Verybriefly. The boundaries of the ruled area of the transparent sheet areregistered with the printing matteion the page of the catalogue ratherthan with the edges of the page, in order to avoid the possibility oferror which would otherwise arise from variations in the margins ofdifferent Copies of the same catalogue.

Vhat I claim as new is:

Apparatus for use in sending messages by code comprising a transparentsheet having vertical and horizontal lines and indicia designating thesame adapted to be superposed on the pages of a catalogue or the like toassist in identifying a particular cut on the page.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of April,1916.

RICHARD C. MARTENS.

Witnesses:

C. A. MUnrHY, EMIL N. Bann.

@epics of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

